by John Schutte
AFRL Human Effectiveness Directorate
A study underway at the Air Force Research Laboratory's Human Effectiveness Directorate (AFRL/HE) could lead to improved safety standards and fewer on-thejob deaths for the nation's firefighters—who are being injured or killed while racing to save the lives of others.
The study was sparked by International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) statistics showing that—due to outdated manufacturing guidelines, the large size and bulk of turnout gear, and inadequate fire engine seat design—25 percent of U.S. firefighters cannot buckle their seatbelts while riding in a fire engine. Since 2000, 36 of the 52 firefighters who died as a result of traffic accidents involving fire engines were not wearing seatbelts at the time of the accident.
In fact, motor vehicle-related incidents—including vehicle rollovers where firefighters are ejected or fall out—are the second leading cause of firefighter line-of-duty fatalities.
Prompted by those numbers, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation approached Jennifer Whitestone, president of Total Contact, Inc., an anthropometry surface scanning company in Germantown, Ohio, to study the body size and shape of firefighters.
The data will be used to develop new industry guidelines to improve the fit and function of safety equipment, clothing, and vehicles used by firefighters, and will be added to the Air Force anthropometry program database.
"Air Force firefighters and other occupations require personal protective gear, and this study will provide us with an updated anthropometric database of the firefighter population and help define methodologies for improving fit and accommodation," said Scott Fleming, an anthropologist in AFRL/HE's Biosciences and Protection Division, Biomechanics Branch (HEPA).
Grants totaling $200,000 from the Department of Homeland Security and the National Institute of Standards and Technology are funding the study. The IAFC, the NFFF, the Safety Task Force of the NFPA 1901 Fire Apparatus Standards Committee, and the Fire Apparatus Manufacturers Association jointly lobbied for the project to address apparatus design flaws.
A biomedical engineer formerly with HEPA, Ms. Whitestone leveraged resources at AFRL/HE's Computerized Anthropometric Research and Design laboratory via a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between the Air Force and General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems. The CRADA opens Air Force test facilities and equipment to commercial clients who might otherwise not have access to specialized equipment like AFRL's 3-D anthropometric body scanner.
Scanning began in July on about 30 firefighters—mostly white males—who volunteered as test subjects. A total of 120 firefighters, including females and minorities, are needed to ensure a valid sampling that mirrors the firefighter population.
"Body size is correlated to ethnicity; that's been proven by many anthropometry studies, so we need to account for those body types," Ms. Whitestone explained.
The study will dovetail with a comprehensive, separately funded project by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to collect anthropometric data from about 1,000 firefighters nationwide. Coincidentally, NIOSH officials were proposing their study when Ms. Whitestone visited to discuss her project, and she considered using the NIOSH facility in Morgantown, W. Va.
"NIOSH was writing a proposal to measure firefighters in their own study and we were pretty happy about that. But we wanted to use the Air Force facility because it's right here and we could get the study finished more efficiently," she said. "Plus, I really admire the way AFRL researchers conduct a project. They're very careful and professional."
Officials of those organizations plan to share information with NIOSH and perhaps broker a formal collaboration between NIOSH and the Air Force.
"We'll transition our protocol and lessons-learned to NIOSH, help train them and help them embark on their national survey of firefighters," Ms. Whitestone said. "I've always wanted to see these two organizations come together and share information and protocols."
"This is such a great springboard for the NIOSH study," Ms. Whitestone continued. "If we can produce results that are useful and of value to the firefighting community and the manufacturers, NIOSH can use that as leverage for additional funding for their study and to help show the merit in what we're trying to do for firefighters."
A firefighter's bulky turnout gear may weigh from 20 to 40 pounds or more, with bulging pockets of equipment further hindering mobility. When sitting three or four abreast in a fire engine seat, firefighters often cannot buckle seatbelts properly or must use seatbelt extensions.
Even when seatbelts are fastened, they may not work as intended because of improper fit when extended over the firefighters' gear.
Part of the problem is that fire apparatus, including fire engine seats, is manufactured to outdated human design standards developed in the 1970s; but, humans have changed significantly since then.
"Humans have increased an inch per decade in height, and firefighters as a group are heavier than other non-military occupations by about 20 pounds," Ms. Whitestone said. "And the seats are not designed to accommodate turnout gear."
Anthropometry studies have been conducted on other professions, including police, nurses, agricultural workers and truck drivers, but this is the first study of firefighters, according to Ms. Whitestone, who points to the irony that such a revered group of first-responders—most of whom are not even full-time professionals—cannot protect themselves as they rush to save the lives of others.
"Eighty percent of the firefighters in the United States are volunteers, and only 20 percent are paid professionals," she explained. "So we as a nation depend on volunteers to fight fires and put their lives on the line, and it's time we take care of them."
Firefighters who wish to volunteer as test subjects may contact Ms. Whitestone for more information at 937-855-6107.
